What We Believe

Events

February 2018

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What kind of Church is Church of the Savior?

Above all else we’re a Christian Church. We believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord (Master) and Savior (Rescuer) and that the Bible is God’s Word for all people: teaching who God is, what He’s like, how much He loves us and His way to live our lives best.

Church of the Savior is an Episcopal Church under the local leadership of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas which is a member or the worldwide Anglican Communion. Which means we are both Anglican and Episcopal.

What is Anglican?

Anglican roots go back to the arrival of Christians in the British Isles roughly 100 years after Jesus’ Resurrection. By 200 A.D. the Church had firmly taken root there and within a few centuries was a strong missionary force sending the light of Christ to a dark world.

For the first 700 years Anglican Christianity had a particularly Celtic expression epitomized by giants of the Faith like St. Patrick of Ireland and St. Aidan of Lindisfarne. These early Anglicans valued the authority of the Bible, a rich prayer life, liturgical worship, rugged individuality yet commitment to the worldwide Church and holy living. They created beautiful art and music and had an incredible zeal to share Jesus with those who didn’t know Him.

This early faith of the first seven centuries found a fresh expression during the Reformation of the 16th Century in the Church in England. With a renewed passion for mission, the Church of England began preaching the Good News of Jesus throughout Africa, Asia, the Americas and beyond.

The Anglican Christianity has also gave the world one of its greatest treasures: the Book of Common Prayer, which has been a standard for Christian worship around the world for five centuries with familiar phrases such as “Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today…” and which is still used every Sunday morning in Church of the Savior’s worship.

Today the Anglican Communion, of which we’re a part, is one of the fastest growing Christian bodies in the World.

Is Episcopal the same as Anglican?

Yes! When the Church of England came to America with English Colonists it wasn’t exactly “in vogue” by the time of the Revolutionary War to be called Anglican (meaning “of England”). Therefore the Anglican Church in the United States called itself the Episcopal Church, which means “governed by bishops” to distinguish itself from King George (other Anglican Churches such as the Church of Scotland and the Church of Rwanda also call themselves Episcopal). For a longer history of the Episcopal Church in the USa see http://episcopalchurch.org/page/history-episcopal-church.

Praying = Believing

A common saying in Anglican circles is that if you want to know what we believe, come worship with us. This stems from an ancient Latin motto, “Lex orandi, lex credenda” which means, “The rule of prayer is the rule of belief.” It’s a recognition that our beliefs and attitudes toward God and our neighbor not only find their highest expression in what we pray, but that what we pray together shapes those beliefs at least as much if not more than a list of theological statements. The prayers we pray in common, together, are the prayers from the Book of Common Prayer.

C. S. Lewis wrote, “About those, [my own beliefs], there is no secret. . . . They are written in the Common-Prayer Book.” If you want to explore the Faith of St. Patrick, George Washington, C.S. Lewis, T.S. Elliot, J.I. Packer, N.T. Wright and Bono (U2) come worship with us this Sunday.

A Few Specifics

The Trinity

We believe in and worship the triune God. God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; three persons yet one being.

The Uniqueness of Jesus Christ

We believe that Jesus of Nazareth is God incarnate (in-the-flesh), is fully human and fully divine, lived a completely sinless life, died on a Roman execution stake, rose bodily from the grave and ascended into heaven where He reigns now and will forever.

We believe what Jesus said about Himself regarding salvation: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The Bible

We believe the Bible, the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, contain all things necessary to salvation and is the rule and ultimate standard of the faith.

The Historic Christian Creeds
We believe the ancient Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds are sufficient statements of the Christian faith. We’ll say more about these below.

The Sacraments
Sacraments are “outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace” whose purpose is to help us grow in holiness. We believe the two sacraments ordained by Christ himself: baptism and the Lord’s Supper (also commonly called Holy Communion, the Eucharist, or the Mass) are sure and certain means by which we receive that grace. We also believe the Sacraments include those ordained by the Church down through history: Confirmation, Anointing of the Sick, Reconciliation (confession & repentance), Matrimony and Ordination.

The Nicene Creed
The Nicene Creed is the statement of faith professed by the vast majority of Christians, whether Protestant, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, or Anglican. It was drawn up at the Council of Nicea in AD 325 from the affirmations of earlier creeds and expanded into its form here at the Council of Chalcedon in AD 351. It is the creed we typically affirm together at Church of the Savior each Sunday.We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

The Apostles Creed
The Apostles’ Creed, which stems from an even earlier statement of faith than the Nicene Creed, provides an excellent yet incredibly concise outline of the Christian faith. It is believed to have been used by catechists (teachers of the faith) as an outline for teaching and catechumens (their students) as an outline for memorization. This Creed is affirmed by most Western Christians.

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth;
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.